Besides winning titles, there's another reason Tony Parker loves playing in the NBA.

The San Antonio point guard thrives on a good 1-on-1 matchup, such as the one he's got going with New Orleans' Chris Paul in the Western Conference semifinals.

``It's great fun, great matchup, a great challenge for me. So I'm having a lot of fun,'' Parker said Saturday. ``It's always good when you play against the best players. That's why you want to play in the NBA, to play against the best.''

Parker certainly has that in Paul, and Paul in Parker.

The two point guards matched each other almost point-for-point, assist-for-assist in Game 3 of the series on Thursday, and figure to do so again in Game 4 on Sunday.

The Hornets have a 2-1 lead and the Spurs want to even things up before returning to New Orleans for Game 5.

Parker, who turns 26 on May 17, racked up 31 points and 11 assists in the Spurs' Game 3 win. Paul, who turned 23 on Tuesday, had 35 points and nine assists.

``They're both very good basketball players,'' said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. ``They're both very unselfish. They both have the ability to score, at the same time use their teammates, to help their teammates to score.''

Hornets coach Byron Scott agrees, and sees a few differences.

``I think Chris Paul is a true point guard. When I say true point guard, he's a pass-first type point guard. I think Tony Parker is more of a scoring point guard,'' Scott said. ``I think both of them are extremely quick. CP shoots it a little bit better, Tony's probably a better finisher. But they're both very good at what they do.''